


For You In Full Bloom

by autumndark



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Beauty and the Beast Theme, M/M, estranged magician kuanlin, fluff and magic!, literal flower boy jihoon, written for panwink week day 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-27 01:59:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15675744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autumndark/pseuds/autumndark
Summary: An unexpected curse causes Jihoon to wake up one day with flowers growing in his hair.In order to break the spell, he ends up seeking out the witch's apprentice Kuanlin, who just might hold the answer to all of Jihoon's problems in more ways than one.





	For You In Full Bloom

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is a little weird (jihoon is growing flowers on his head laksjdflksjf) but it does draw loose parallels to beauty and the beast, and features some of its motifs!
> 
> also idk i just thought it was a cute idea so here it is! ;~;

It actually starts with a rejected confession.

However, Jihoon doesn’t realise this until several days later, when he hurriedly wakes up in the morning just in time for school, flicks on the light to his tiny, cramped bathroom, and stares at his sleepy reflection in the dingy mirror.

Something’s not quite right.

Leaning forward, Jihoon observes what appears to be three small, orange tulips that have started sprouting from the crown of his head. 

_How strange._

Blinking in confusion, Jihoon splashes his face with cold water to try and dispel his morning lethargic haze, but the little plants remain there. 

Even as Jihoon rakes his fingers roughly through his messy hair and views his head from different angles in the mirror, trying to make the blooms disappear but to no avail; those odd flowers remain with their thin wispy roots comfortably taking up residence on his head and camouflaging themselves amongst his tawny brown strands of hair.

It’s not a trick of the light or the remnants of an early morning daydream - Park Jihoon appears to be growing flowers on his head like some kind of freakish living plant person.

_Flower boy, indeed._

Groaning out loud, Jihoon shakes his head. It’s too early in the day to deal with this and Jihoon has a test in second period that he hasn’t studied for - _too busy playing annoyingly addictive multiplayer games online_ \- so he finishes up his usual morning routine. Grabbing a garishly-coloured bright orange beanie and slapping it over his hair, Jihoon’s out the door and heading towards school without giving his strange problem a second thought.

If he’s lucky, perhaps the problem will have taken care of itself by the time the school day is over.

  
  
  
  


\- ✿ -

  
  
  
  


It seems that Jihoon’s problem has not magically taken care of itself as easily as it had appeared, because when Jihoon returns home and takes off his beanie he finds that the flowers are not only larger than they were at the beginning of the day, but they have also somehow managed to multiply and Jihoon now has to deal with six moderately-sized orange flowers blossoming from his head.

_What on earth…_

Frowning, Jihoon decides that his physics assignment can wait (not that he was really going to do it anyway but you know, he was at least going to _pretend_ to try) and instead tries consulting the internet for a solution to his ‘growing' problem.

After one and a half hours of fruitless searching and countless combinations of the words ‘flower’, ‘head’, ‘growth’ and ‘hair’, Jihoon has discovered nothing helpful to his own problem and gained an in-depth knowledge of all kinds of terrible ‘head growths’. 

Shuddering, Jihoon clears his search history and powers down his laptop.

He has also seen enough flower crowns to last him a lifetime, Jihoon thinks, sighing as he takes a few photos to try and assess how bad the damage is from the back.

It looks like someone had gracelessly pinned a bunch of flowers in random spots on his head, almost like that one time that Jihoon had let his young niece decorate his hair with ribbons when his mother asked him to help babysit.

Staring at his reflection in the mirror with a pair of scissors in his hand, Jihoon hesitantly attempts to cut the stems off however he quickly concludes that the flowers appear to be immune to his efforts. 

Experimentally, Jihoon reaches a hand up and tries tugging on a flower.

When he pulls, Jihoon can feel the roots of the flower from where they connect to his scalp. It’s an odd sensation, but Jihoon supposes the sensation isn’t too different from when he pulls on a small tuft of his normal hair.

Mildly terrified, Jihoon decides to throw caution to the wind and yanks on a flower stem as hard as he can until it pops out.

It’s more than a little bit painful, and Jihoon finds himself tearing up slightly as he raises a hand to pat gingerly at the area the plant had come out of ( _it’s not bleeding, thank god_ ), but it’s not unbearable and nowhere near as agonizing as that one time Jihoon was dared to wax his legs ( _never again_ ), so Jihoon soldiers on.

The subsequent flowers come out easier now that Jihoon has a vague idea of what he’s doing, and overall the sensation feels a lot like forcefully raking a comb through the tangled knots in his hair until they all come out in a ratty clump. 

Sniffing lightly, Jihoon stares down at the six uprooted tulips lying limply on his bedroom carpet that came from _his head_ of all places.

_It’s a little gross._

That night, Jihoon goes to bed pretending that he can write off today’s events as some kind of surreal lucid dream and hopes that tomorrow his hair will return to normal.

  
  
  
  


\- ✿ -

  
  
  
  


The next morning, the little orange flowers are back along with two bright yellow daisies and one minuscule flower nestled at the front of his fringe that is a vibrant purple colour.

A quick search of Naver informs him that his new addition is a poppy flower and, like the others, it’s probably here to stay because Jihoon can’t go through the trauma of plucking all of them out again only to have them cheerfully regrow like this.

He grabs a different beanie, yellow this time but with an oversized pom-pom on top, and crams it over his head.

The flowers sit awkwardly crammed under the hat and his head starts to feel itchy if Jihoon thinks about it for too long. In math class, the stems near the edge of his beanie start to prickle at Jihoon’s hairline and he feels himself slowly going crazy from discomfort. 

With only five minutes left until the end of class, he excuses himself to go to the toilets and, after checking that all of the stalls are empty, discreetly peels the edge of his beanie back to curiously poke at the hidden petals underneath the cloth.

They look mostly the same as before, although a few unfortunate flowers seem to be in a more battered state than they had been this morning after being crushed under a hat for several hours, but fortunately no newcomers have sprung up.

Pondering over what to do about the purple peony that’s starting to fall dangerously close to his eyes - it keeps trying to escape from under his beanie and irritating his forehead profusely, _perhaps he should just bite the bullet and pull it?_ , he wonders - Jihoon is startled from his musings by the door to the boy’s bathroom slamming open.

Hurriedly, Jihoon pulls the hat back over his head and prays that it sufficiently covers everything he needs it to hide.

Park Woojin shoots him a perplexed look but doesn’t stop to chat and urgently rushes over to an empty stall. 

Taking the chance to flee, Jihoon escapes while Woojin is occupied with his business. The other boy probably didn’t see anything incriminating but Jihoon isn’t going to stay and let himself get interrogated by his overly-nosy best friend. 

Besides, knowing Woojin’s one-track mind, he’ll likely have forgotten about it by the time lunch rolls around and if not, Jihoon can easily employ a distraction tactic by insulting him or something, it’s not a big deal.

  
  
  
  


\- ✿ -

  
  
  
  


An entire week passes in this manner, with Jihoon waking up each morning to a wider and increasingly more colourful assortment of natural blooms, and spending the rest of the day hiding his hair under hats, beanies, or oversized hoods.

Jihoon is known for his rather eccentric fashion tastes so luckily none of his friends have commented about his interesting choices of headwear so far, however questions are bound to come up eventually if his hair remains hidden for any longer and this doesn’t seem to be a problem that Jihoon is able to solve on his own.

With a resigned sigh, Jihoon concludes that he is going to have to come clean to his friends and hope that they can offer him some helpful insight.

As an introvert and somewhat of a homebody (Jihoon calls it being _’selectively social’_ , thank you very much), Jihoon rarely invites everyone over at once and so the mood in his living room is restless as his friends wonder what’s going on.

“So what’s up, Jihoon?” asks Jinyoung, plucking at an errant strand on Jihoon’s carpet from where he sits. “Why did you call us over?”

“You’re not like, planning on dropping out of school and joining the next season of Produce 101 are you? Because I was joking when I said that.” blurts out Woojin, before ripping open a pack of potato snacks and continuing with his mouth full, “I mean, you’d probably do okay? But the next season is for girls anyway from what I heard.”

Before Jihoon can get a word in edgewise, Daehwi cuts in. 

“Don’t be ridiculous, Woojin. It’s obviously got something to do with his hair.” says the younger boy matter-of-factly, waving a slender finger towards Jihoon’s head. “I’ve been wondering what that was about.”

“Ah, you noticed?” asks Jihoon hesitantly, surprise colouring his tone.

“Of course, it was really obvious that something was going on.” answers Daehwi easily, “But don’t worry, I don’t think anyone else noticed.”

“Right,” replies Jihoon, trailing off as he considers what to say. “Erm, I guess it’ll be easier if I just show you.”

Reaching up, Jihoon pushes back his hood, revealing his hair in all it’s plant-infested glory. This afternoon, his hair is decorated with a delicate smattering of white baby’s breath petals punctuated by two larger sunflowers that automatically tilt towards his open window, joyfully basking in the warmth of the afternoon sun.

No one responds immediately and Jihoon’s living room is filled with silence.

“Oh. Well, this is prettier than what I had expected.” comments Daehwi finally, breaking the awkward pause and smiling reassuringly at Jihoon. Staring enthralled at the beautiful flowers upon Jihoon’s forehead, the younger boy giggles “I was half-convinced that you had accidentally over-bleached your hair and all of it had fallen off!”

Returning Daehwi’s sweet smile with one of his own, Jihoon pats at his head self-consciously as he waits for his other friends to pick their jaws up off the floor and say something.

“So that’s why you were acting like a furtive little weirdo when I caught you in the toilets the other day.” voices Woojin loudly, a hand placed on his chin contemplatively. Pulling a weird face, he adds on “I had just thought that you were up to something."

“Like what?” asks Jihoon, frowning.

Staring at the ground sheepishly, Woojin mumbles out “I don't know! Maybe you needed a little privacy or something. Some alone time, ya know?” He lifts a hand vaguely and makes an ambiguous gesture in the air.

“That’s gross, I wouldn’t do that at school!” says Jihoon accusingly, reaching over from his spot to shove Woojin, knocking the other boy over and causing him to fall into Jinyoung.

Jinyoung still hasn’t said anything and when Jihoon tries to meet his eyes, he finds the younger is staring up blankly at Jihoon’s hair.

Shrinking down, Jihoon fiddles with his fingers and says softly “I don’t really know how this happened or how to get rid of it. But it’s been this way for the entire week. I’m all out of ideas, you guys.”  

“For a whole week?” shrieks Daehwi, before adding on helpfully “Do you think something happened at the start that might have caused it? Maybe you ate something weird or touched some strange plant spores that got stuck in your hair.”

Furrowing his eyebrows, Jihoon replies “No, I don’t think so. I’ve been thinking about it all week but I can’t think of anything that could have caused this.”

“I guess it’s not that bad? It looks kinda cool at least.” tries Woojin, shrugging and attempting to be supportive.

Sighing, Jihoon shifts his focus towards Jinyoung who hasn’t said a word so far.

“And what do you think of all of this?”

Snapping out of his daze, the younger boy blinks rapidly and finally pulls his eyes away from where he had been glaring a hole into the sunflower perched innocently on the side of Jihoon’s head.

“You’re a literal flower boy now.” chirps Jinyoung, smiling delightedly up at Jihoon. “I think it suits you!”

“Wait, what did you just say?” asks Daehwi urgently, springing forward. 

“It suits him?” parrots Jinyoung in confusion.

Furiously shaking his head, Daehwi taps the other boy’s leg and argues “No, before that! You called him a flower boy!”

Jinyoung scrunches up his face. “Yeah, so?”

“Don’t you remember, Jihoon? Like one or two weeks ago, just before your problem started!” says Daehwi excitedly, clutching Jihoon’s shoulders in both hands. “That girl, you said she called you a flower boy when you rejected her!”

  
  
  
  


\- ✿ -

  
  
  
  


Ten days earlier, and Jihoon stands in the centre of the deserted courtyard behind the school, having been called out to meet before class started by an odd girl from the neighbouring school that he’s honestly never seen before.

Normally, he would refuse this sort of thing but she had been particularly persistent, continuously leaving Jihoon edible presents that he had ended up actually eating and so he’d decided he would at least do her the courtesy of meeting up with her once face to face.

As far as confessions go, and Jihoon has received a fair few in his short lifetime, this one is pretty average.

The girl keeps her head down and mostly stutters through some kind of speech that she must have memorised beforehand. 

“I like you, what do you think of me?” she asks quietly.

Objectively, she’s quite pretty - a delicate beauty to her frame paired with a rather fierce countenance - and Jihoon supposes that if he were the sort of boy that was easily swayed by looks he would have already agreed. However, Jihoon doesn’t know her, isn’t exactly looking for a relationship right now, and finds her appearance to be ‘alright’ overall. 

“I’m sorry, but I don’t really know you, and I’m not particularly interested in getting to know you either. Thank you for liking me, but I’m going to have to reject your offer. Sorry.” says Jihoon eventually, his tone polite but curt and tacks on a small smile towards the end.

“Y-You don’t know me, right? How about giving me a chance then?” stutters the girl helplessly, making a move towards his arm.

In hindsight, Jihoon probably could have handled the situation better, but he was already cranky about being called to stand out here in the cold so early and all he really wanted to do was get back inside the building where it was warm rather than remain trapped in this awkward conversation with a stranger.

“Listen, I said no, alright? Thanks, but no thanks.” he replies, shirking his arm out of her grasp callously. When she persists, he adds on “Don’t you have other people to bother so early in the morning?”

“What?” spits out the girl, brows drawn tightly together and pretty lips downturned. “I like you, shouldn’t you be nicer to me?"

“You don’t know me. You only like me for my looks anyway.” retaliates Jihoon coldly. 

Backing up slowly, the girl crosses her arms. “You’re right. You’re probably used to getting praised for your flower boy looks all the time anyway, right? What’s another admirer to you?”

Before he can say anything in reply, the girl shoulders past him gruffly, her black hair swaying in the wind as she comments under her breath as she passes by, “I bet you won’t dare to be so cocky once you become a _real_ flower boy." 

  
  
  
  


\- ✿ -

  
  
  
  


Afterwards, Jihoon had recounted his eventful morning to his friends but he had simply written off the ‘flower boy' remark as an odd comeback uttered by an upset schoolgirl. 

“So you think that girl, what, cursed me or something?” clarifies Jihoon, looking confusedly at Daehwi as Woojin scoffs in the background.

“It’s not that farfetched! I mean, the timing makes sense and everything.” argues Daehwi.

Nodding casually, Jinyoung chips in “Weirder things have happened. You have flowers growing out of your head, Jihoon.”

“You’re saying that like magic exists, oh my god, Daehwi!” laughs Woojin, looking far too entertained at the whole situation for Jihoon’s liking. “People can’t just curse other people.”

“It’s a good suggestion but I don’t know. I don’t think that’s it.” comments Jihoon, patting Daehwi’s arm.

“No! Magic absolutely exists, stop looking at me like I’m crazy!” screeches Daehwi, his voice rising in pitch and eyes growing wide, directly contrasting with his words. 

Making eye contact with Jihoon, Woojin rolls his eyes and stage-whispers ‘crazy’ at Jihoon as Jinyoung watches on in blank silence.

Getting more and more worked up, Daehwi gets up on his knees and shouts out, pointing a desperate finger in Jihoon’s face. “Trust me on this! I know a guy, who knows a guy, who knows someone that should be able to help you out!"

  
  
  
  


\- ✿ -

  
  
  
  


Currently, Jihoon fidgets with his fingers as he stands in front of a dilapidated old apartment block in the abandoned factory district.

It’s late and the sky is rapidly darkening faster than he would like, however Jihoon had come here straight after school ended via an uncomfortable hour-long train ride. Still, Jihoon doesn’t appreciate the fact that there are hardly any people moving around in the emptying streets by the time that he had stepped off the train. 

The rest of the building’s facade looks old and worn-down, but the condition of the door seems to be in comparatively good shape.

Sceptically, Jihoon stares down at the blinking red dot displayed on his phone’s map screen and wonders if he should simply resign himself to his fate and learn to live with plants on his head for the rest of his life.

As he raises his hand to knock on the flimsy door, he can’t help but feel a little uneasy.

_I hope this isn’t how I die._

  
  
  
  


\- ✿ -

  
  
  
  


Following their little brainstorming session at Jihoon’s house, Daehwi had cryptically told Jihoon to leave the problem to him before disappearing for two days and returning with the address of someone that he believed would be able to help the older boy out.

“You want me to go visit some random stranger who claims that they can to help me? I can’t call them first? Don’t they have a phone?” wonders Jihoon, squinting down in distrust at the information Daehwi had given him.

“Apparently, there’s this old lady who lives on the outskirts of town who has experience in dealing with this sort of thing!” explains the younger, smiling widely.

Narrowing his eyes, Jihoon asks “With what sort of thing, exactly?” 

“Like curses and magic, that kind of thing.” elaborates Daehwi, sighing in exasperation as he lifts a hand to gesture vaguely in the air.

“That sounds like a scam to me. An old woman pretending to be a witch.” scoffs Jihoon, before folding his arms and reprimanding the younger boy. “Magic doesn’t exist in real life, you shouldn’t let yourself get fooled, Daehwi."

Unperturbed, Daehwi raises an eyebrow and responds coolly. “Says the guy with flowers literally growing in his hair.” 

Unable to think of a suitable comeback, Jihoon changes tactics. 

“Where did you even hear about this supposed witch?” tries Jihoon, voice carrying a dismissive tone.

Perking up, Daehwi answers enthusiastically “Oh, from Ong Seongwoo! You remember that senior right? He graduated a few years ago.” 

He pauses as Jihoon hums in idle recognition. 

Shrugging, Daehwi continues “Anyway, he knows a lot of people. I would say he’s reliable enough to trust him on this."

  
  
  
  


\- ✿ -

  
  
  
  


No one comes to answer the door.

Double-checking that he had indeed typed in the correct location, Jihoon pushes open the metal frame - it screeches on it’s rusted hinges but offers little resistance, opening easily - and second-guesses how much he can really rely on that lanky upperclassman.

“H-Hello?” tries Jihoon, his voice quietly echoing in the cramped lobby area, and reverberating up and down the concrete stairwell.

There are no signs of life from the apartments upstairs but a fluorescent light flickers from where it hangs over the basement stairs.

_The address had listed ground floor…_

Making his way down the dimly-lit steps, Jihoon tries knocking again once he reaches the bottom but still receives no reply. With half a mind to write this whole thing off as a waste of time, Jihoon steels himself and tries the basement door. 

It’s unlocked, and so dark inside that Jihoon can barely see his own hands in front of his face.

“Excuse me? Ma’am?” attempts Jihoon, uncertainty present in his tone.

He takes a step forward and stumbles into an object lying on the floor.

_“Oomph!”_ groans the thing.

“Ack! I’m sorry!” wails Jihoon, backtracking hurriedly. “Wait! What?”

Whilst Jihoon is occupied with trying to wrestle the flashlight on his phone into co-operating with him in his panic, he hears the telltale click of a light-switch being turned on before his vision is flooded by a bright, golden-hued light.

“Oh.” says the thing, who is actually a boy apparently, judging from their voice. “Can I help you?”

Blinking the spots out of his eyes, Jihoon turns to look at the other person in the room. 

His eyesight must still be in shock because the boy almost looks like he is glowing. 

_Is he even human?_

The stranger’s pale skin shines in contrast with his dark, black hair, and he has a set of wide eyes that seem to draw Jihoon in. The odd boy even has long, nymph-like limbs and stands nearly a head taller than Jihoon despite his youthful-looking face.

A face belonging to a young boy and decidedly _not_ an old woman.

“You live here?” blurts out Jihoon rudely before snapping out of his stupor, back-pedalling quickly and stuttering out an apology. “S-Sorry! I think I’m in the wrong place. I’m just gonna go now. Sorry for bothering you!”

“Wait, it’s okay.” says the boy softly, a strange accent clinging to his tongue as he tries to calm Jihoon down. He lifts his gangly arms up and awkwardly holds his palms upwards in a placating gesture, explaining "I’m not upset. I was sleeping so I didn’t hear you come in."

“Right. Well, I’m sorry for waking you up then.” says Jihoon eventually, scratching his neck in embarrassment. “But it does seem like I’ve got the wrong address though.”

“Who were you looking for?” asks the boy, blinking slowly as he stares back at Jihoon.

“This is gonna sound kinda crazy,” Jihoon isn’t sure why he is planning on humouring the boy, but he answers truthfully, “But I heard that there was a witch living around here?”

In response, the boy’s owlish eyes grow rounder out of surprise and Jihoon rushes to laugh it off.

“That was a joke, ahaha! I mean, obviously-“ Jihoon’s half-baked excuse gets cut off midway.

“Ah, you’re right where you are supposed to be then.” says the boy, comprehension dawning in his eyes.

“Sorry?” questions Jihoon with a confused expression on his face.

“You apologise a lot, you shouldn’t do that.” comments the boy, chuckling lightly.

“No! I mean. You’re a witch?” splutters out Jihoon, eyeing the boy up and down with suspicion.

The boy offers Jihoon a gummy smile in response and says “No, I’m not.” 

Frowning, Jihoon is about to launch into a full-blown tirade out of pure frustration at his entire life-situation in general when the mysterious boy continues. 

"But my grandmother is." The boy laughs at Jihoon’s face - a harsh mix of confusion, annoyance, and relief - and explains further, putting Jihoon out of his misery. “I’m her apprentice!”

A tiny bubble of hope wells up in Jihoon’s chest, surprised but still sceptical.

“Unfortunately, she is out of the country at the moment and won’t be back for a while.” says the boy, quirking his lips apologetically. “But if you have urgent business, I can try to take care of it for you."

Jihoon blinks and licks his lips anxiously.

“This is pretty urgent I would say.”

  
  
  
  


\- ✿ -

  
  
  
  


“I’ve never seen this before.” comments the witch’s apprentice - Kuanlin, he’d introduced himself as - staring up at the flowers lying innocently nestled amongst Jihoon’s messy bed-head.

(Jihoon hasn’t been able to comb his hair since Day 4 when a row of pale pink buds had started to cluster around the ends of his hairs near the crown of his head. Fortunately, washing is still possible at this stage but Jihoon worries that may change soon.)

Antsy, Jihoon worries at the knitted hat in his lap as he looks up at Kuanlin expectantly, fingers picking apart a stray piece of thread from its fraying edge.

“Do you think you can find a way to reverse it?” questions Jihoon, nervously wrapping the thread around his finger. Chuckling wryly, he adds “I’m getting a bit sick of having to hide my hair under hats and hoods all of the time. My mother thinks I’m going through a phase.”

“I can imagine.” comments Kuanlin, nodding in sympathy. “If it really is a curse, like you said you suspected, then most likely you will have to perform some sort of action in order to undo it. That’s how these things usually work.”

Jihoon balks at the explanation. 

“What, like a kiss?” he asks, disbelief in his voice.

“Well, yes, but I don’t imagine that a kiss will work in your case.” says Kuanlin blankly. Scrunching up the side of his mouth in frustration, he admits “My grandmother would know what to do, but I’m gonna have to do some research before I can come up with an answer for you, Jihoon.”

“I see.” mutters Jihoon, letting out a soft sigh.

“I know that there are some useful books on curses in here,” mentions Kuanlin, trying to lift Jihoon’s spirits. He waves a hand around the room, gesturing at its extensive collection of magical tomes and instruments, "I’m sure one of them contains your solution.” 

He smiles reassuringly at Jihoon. It’s a kind smile that causes the area around his eyes to crinkle pleasantly.

“I just have to find it for you. It won’t take too long, I promise.” affirms the boy, bowing his head slightly.

“Yes, please.” replies Jihoon, smiling and nodding earnestly. "I’ll have to pay you in return though. I’m not really sure how witches normally charge for their services.” he chuckles, trailing off self-consciously as he admits “I don’t really know anything about this at all.”

“My grandmother usually accepts card.” quips Kuanlin blithely.

The unexpected sass from the seemingly mild-mannered boy startles a laugh out of Jihoon. He blinks in surprise. “Oh, that makes sense I suppose.”

“But since I’m not her, and I can’t really guarantee how helpful I’ll be, I won’t charge you anything." laments the witch’s apprentice, shrinking down into himself and making his tall frame smaller. "Besides, you went out of your way to find me and you seem to be dealing with enough right now."

“I have to repay you somehow!” replies Jihoon, shaking his head defiantly. “I’m making you waste your time with helping me solve my problem, I’d feel bad otherwise.”

Kuanlin shrugs helplessly.

“It’s not a waste, I don’t really have a lot going on.”

“Still…” rebuts Jihoon, dragging the word out uncertainly. 

Hearing Jihoon’s determination, Kuanlin sighs softly and relents. “If you really want to, you can help me clean up this room.” Jihoon eyes the room appraisingly as Kuanlin looks at the papers strewn out on the floor around them. He explains “I’m supposed to finish filing Grandma’s accounts. It’s a mess right now after I pulled out everything I was looking for.” 

Hesitantly, Kuanlin assesses Jihoon’s eager expression before reiterating "It’s unnecessary, but you can help me with that if you really want to.”

Jihoon smiles widely.

“I’d love to." 

  
  
  
  


\- ✿ -

  
  
  
  


Holding back a sneeze, Jihoon sets down a stack of dusty books that are waiting to be placed on the ornate wooden bookshelf. Their covers look old and worn but well-taken care of, with interesting titles ranging from _‘Potency of Potions: The Importance of Ingredients’_ and _‘Ancient Wards and Modern Environments’_.

It’s all rather surreal but considering that having a headful of flowers is almost becoming normal to Jihoon by now, he supposes that he could get used to it pretty quickly.

“What did you mean when you told me that I 'wouldn’t be wasting your time' the other day?” asks Jihoon, breaking the comfortable silence in the room as both boys work on their individual tasks.

Kuanlin looks up from the other side of the office, lifting his head out of the book that he’d been thumbing through ( _‘Curses: Methods, Processes and Structure’_ ) and sends the older boy a confused look.

“You said that you didn’t have a lot going on, or something to that effect. I was wondering what you meant.” clarifies Jihoon, bending down to riffle through the box of books on the floor.

( _‘The Pickling Pumpkin-Pox for Pets’?_ Jihoon doesn’t want to know.)

“Oh, that.” whispers Kuanlin, returning to his book. "I don’t go to school, and I don’t really go outside much either. That’s all.” He answers in a blasé tone.

“You mostly stay here? Why?” pries Jihoon, genuinely curious. Realising that the other boy might think he was being judgemental, Jihoon quickly tacks on “I mean, I understand. I mostly stay indoors too. I play a lot of video games?"

“Actually, it’s not really a choice.” admits Kuanlin. He’s not wearing a sad expression but something about his tone belies a kind of long-held resignation. “I’m not exactly a witch, but I do have magic. And I haven’t figured out how to control it properly yet, so it’s safer for me, and probably everyone else as well, if I stay at home.”

“Oh.” comments Jihoon intelligently, freezing perched upon the stepladder. "That’s…” 

_A little sad,_  thinks Jihoon.

The other boy doesn’t appear to want to talk about it any further, slouching down on the sofa as though he believes he could hide his too-tall body behind the book in his hands if he tried hard enough.

“Pretty cool.” finishes Jihoon.

“Cool?” repeats Kuanlin, frowning and dropping the book to his lap. 

“Yeah, it is cool.” replies Jihoon with more conviction. “You have magic. The most magical thing about me are these flowers,” says Jihoon, smiling widely and flicking the orange tulip near his ear, “and they’ll be gone soon."

“You really think so?” asks Kuanlin, folding the corner of the page he was reading.

“Of course.” reassures Jihoon, abandoning his shelving task and sitting down on the ladder. “Can you show me?”

“I don’t know what you’re imagining, Jihoon, but I assure you it’s not nearly as exciting as you think.” deadpans the younger, but he’s also biting back a smile so Jihoon counts it as a win. “Magic really just means that when you perform spells and other stuff, they work. That’s all honestly.” 

Kuanlin pauses to check if the elder is following his explanation and Jihoon nods along, enraptured by the mechanics of the magical realm.

“Sometimes the magic in me rises to the surface and causes me to glow.” mentions Kuanlin, becoming more comfortable about opening up to Jihoon. “When I get too excited, I can feel it thrumming through my veins just beneath my skin, and I leave trails of dust behind me. Sort of like glitter.”

“Wow, that must be beautiful.” comments Jihoon sincerely. “Were you glowing the first time I met you?”

“When you woke me up?” asks Kuanlin, frowning lightly. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Ah, really?” replies Jihoon, scratching the back of his beck self-consciously.

_I could’ve sworn you were glowing, because I couldn’t stop staring at you._

“It must’ve been a trick of the light, I suppose.” concedes Jihoon, standing up and brushing down his pants.

  
  
  
  


\- ✿ -

  
  
  
  


There’s something mesmerising about sitting on the floor and watching Kuanlin work his way through pages and pages of magical textbooks.

On this visit, Jihoon had puttered around the room tidying up the cushions, loose papers and strange ornaments decorating the study, and even rearranged some of the smaller pieces of furniture that had been awkwardly crammed into basement space. There isn’t much else he can do since he had finished re-shelving all of the books already and it is too late to begin tackling a new task today.

Across the room, the witch’s apprentice skims his eyes over the texts methodically, turning a page every few seconds like clockwork, and he seems absorbed in his activity. 

Jihoon blinks slowly, eyelids feeling heavy. 

I’ll just take a short nap, thinks Jihoon.

  
  
  
  


When he wakes up, Jihoon finds himself laying in a more comfortable position; leaning back against the small maroon sofa with the back of his head supported on something soft.

Straightening in surprise, Jihoon also realises that his side is pressed up on some kind of pillow, providing a pleasant warmth to his side, and that the rest of the room appears to be empty.

Kuanlin must have left while Jihoon was sleeping.

He feels the pillow at his side mysteriously move and the sound of a page being turned.

“You don’t have to stay for so long if you’re tired, Jihoon.” comes a soft voice from above, near his ear.

Turning, Jihoon feels his face flush hot and scrambles to lift his head off Kuanlin’s shoulder. Unfortunately, the couch only seats two people and there isn’t anywhere else for Jihoon to scoot further to.

“Ah, sorry. Was that uncomfortable for you?” apologises Jihoon, discreetly fanning at his face with his hand.

“No, it was fine. Cute, actually.” replies Kuanlin, smiling down at Jihoon widely, his gums showing. “Also, you smell like fresh flowers."

“Oh.” says Jihoon. It appears that his face isn’t going to cool down anytime soon. “Well, I’m sorry anyway.”

“It’s okay. But if it takes so long for you to go home afterwards, you can leave earlier Jihoon. I won’t mind.” offers the younger graciously, lowering his book and turning towards Jihoon.

Shaking his head, Jihoon begins to decline until he notices Kuanlin’s face. “No, that’s- You’re glowing!” 

The older boy had been too caught up in his own fluster to brave looking directly into the younger’s face but now that he properly looks at Kuanlin, Jihoon realises that the younger is emitting a soft white glow that makes him look especially radiant and otherworldly.

_Ethereal._

“Am I?” asks Kuanlin innocently, raising a hand to pat at his cheek curiously.

“Yes. You can’t feel it?” pries Jihoon, mouth gaping open as he stares awestruck at Kuanlin.

“I don’t really feel any different.” replies Kuanlin, shrugging offhandedly. 

Jihoon can’t help staring at Kuanlin’s skin as the younger continues talking.

“Anyway, as I was saying earlier, you don’t have to stay back just to keep me company.” says Kuanlin, growing embarrassed under the attention and changing the topic. "I know that’s what you’re trying to do and I appreciate it, but I don’t want to be a burden.”

“You’re not! Really!” denies Jihoon earnestly, sitting up and leaning into Kuanlin’s space. “The train ride doesn’t bother me much. I like spending time with you.”

“Y-You don’t think I’m weird?” whispers Kuanlin uncertainly.

Jihoon takes in Kuanlin’s glowing face and replies with a genuine smile “No, I don't. I think you’re special.”

Breaking eye contact, Kuanlin laughs sheepishly and raises a hand to cover his face as he glances away. Enraptured, Jihoon’s eyes follow the motion of Kuanlin’s hand as tiny sparkles appear to fall off from his arm and drift slowly to the ground, their floating particles causing the air around them to shine.

“Oh, dear.” comments Kuanlin absentmindedly as he notices the glittering dust, raising his hand to wave them away but more keep appearing.

“Is this what you meant when you said that you leave trails of glitter?” asks Jihoon curiously, eyes transfixed by the shimmering lights as Kuanlin moves.

“Right, it doesn’t happen often though.” says Kuanlin, resting his chin on his palm and waiting for the sparks to fade. "Usually it's only when I’m in a particularly good mood or if there’s a lot of magic around.”

The environment isn’t any different than usual; it’s just the two of them in the basement as always.

“It must be because of me then.” jokes Jihoon, nudging the other boy’s shoulder cheekily. “I guess I’m pretty special too.”

“Don’t make fun of my magical condition!” yelps Kuanlin in faux anger but he’s laughing as he pokes Jihoon in the side with a bony finger. “I’ll put glitter all over your hair and make the flowers grow extra big!” he threatens.

Kuanlin’s magical sparkles do end up getting all over Jihoon’s hair and clothes but they fade away on the train ride home, and by the time Jihoon reaches his house, there aren’t any traces of them left.

  
  
  
  


\- ✿ -

  
  
  
  


Exactly one week after Jihoon had stumbled into the darkened basement room, Kuanlin discovers the solution to his plant problem. 

Jihoon is tapping away at a rhythm game on his phone when Kuanlin shouts out excitedly, startling him and causing him to break his combo.

“Jihoon! Jihoon, I’ve found it!” screams Kuanlin, dashing over to the desk in the centre of the room with a small red book in hand, slamming it down on the table proudly. 

Hearing the younger boy’s excitement, Jihoon pockets his phone and makes his way over. 

Pointing at a paragraph in the open book, Kuanlin says “Look! This talks about some kind of _‘bloom boy’_ curse, and mentions that the curse will remain active until _‘it’s physical manifestation can be utilised to wholeheartedly replicate the cause of the suffering inflicted upon the spellcaster’_. I think this is what we want.” Kuanlin looks eagerly over at Jihoon, anticipating his response.

“Um, that’s a lot of words that I don’t really understand,” begins Jihoon, blinking rapidly in confusion, “but you seem to believe that it’ll help me so I trust you. That’s great!” 

“Ah, let me explain it for you better.” says Kuanlin, rubbing his neck awkwardly as he bends over the book. “As I’ve told you, the effects of a curse can only be undone by performing a specific action, correct?” 

He waits for Jihoon to nod in agreement before continuing.

"Basically, this is saying that the curse will only be lifted when you discover someone you would like to give your flowers to, _like a confession_.” elaborates Kuanlin before holding up a finger and stressing, “But! It must be _sincere._ ” 

Shellshocked, Jihoon doesn’t reply, turning Kuanlin’s words over and over inside his head. 

"These things are always like this, that’s what makes them so tricky.” comments Kuanlin, glaring at the cursebook disdainfully. 

Staring at the ceiling of Kuanlin’s basement, Jihoon sighs and wonders when his life became so complicated.

“So all I have to do is find someone I want to confess to and give them a flower, and then I’ll be all good?” clarifies Jihoon, twisting his fingers together anxiously.

“Essentially, yes. I think that will solve it.” nods Kuanlin, shutting the little red book and turning to return it to the bookshelf.

“I see.” says Jihoon quietly, an errant thought at the back of his head whispering that everything is not settled yet. "And that’s all then?”

“Yup, I’m afraid that’s all I can offer you, Jihoon.” says Kuanlin, making his way over to the doorway of the basement. “But it’s a good place for you to start!”

“In that case, thank you for everything Kuanlin. You’ve been very helpful.” smiles Jihoon, his glance lingering on the other boy as he turns to leave.

As Jihoon twists the handle and pulls open the door, he hears Kuanlin call out from behind him.

"Good luck."

  
  
  
  


\- ✿ -

  
  
  
  


There are several candidates that Jihoon could consider confessing to, but none of them stick out as anything special in particular to Jihoon.

He runs through a mental checklist of people that he knows and ends up dismissing almost everyone immediately.

Firstly, there’s Woojin, but that option is disregarded as quickly as it comes up. 

Woojin is a great best friend, Jihoon’s ride-or-die, for better-or-worse (usually worse, the two of them have an unique talent for bringing out the most unattractive points of each other), and the pair have been stuck together ever since they were partnered up for a project in grade school because their names were side by side on the list. Jihoon can’t really imagine his life without Woojin at this point but also he really, _really_ , can’t imagine kissing Woojin either and would rather live with flowers on his head until he dies than engage in sappy couple-shit with Woojin.

_Gross._

Next, there is Jinyoung.

At one stage, Jihoon was semi-convinced that Jinyoung actually had a crush on him but nothing was ever proven and the younger boy seems to have gotten over his puppy-attraction anyway. Thinking about it properly, Jinyoung is not a terrible option. Jihoon thinks that being in a relationship with the younger boy would be sort of okay, but it’s not like Jihoon is exactly excited about the prospect either. His hands don’t get clammy and his heart doesn’t race. Jihoon suspects that the curse would know that his feelings were insincere. 

Daehwi is the third option that Jihoon considers.

Daehwi is bubbly and cute, as smart as he is sassy, overall a good friend and probably a decent boyfriend. Despite this, Jihoon mostly likes Daehwi as a little brother that he wants to dote on and would prefer to give him kisses on his cheek, rather than his mouth. Also, he has a sneaking suspicion that the younger boy already likes someone. Jihoon wouldn’t be surprised if any day now Daehwi and Jinyoung suddenly got together.

There is also Choi Yoojung, a bright, energetic girl in his class that Jihoon likes playing sports with. She’s cute and easy to get along with, but Jihoon honestly only likes her as a friend. Additionally, it seems impossible to catch her alone without Doyeon. Jihoon thinks that those two could probably end up together as well.

_Is there truly no one that he likes romantically?_ Jihoon wonders.

Thinking back, Jihoon recalls that once, there was a senior that he liked: a handsome and well-respected upperclassman named Hwang Minhyun (in the same grade as a certain questionable senior that sent Jihoon on a visit to a witch in the first place). At the time, Jihoon had really liked him and even once awkwardly attempted to confess only to chicken out in front of Minhyun, keeping his admiration one-sided.

He’d already tried it once; _never again_ , thinks Jihoon.

  
  
  
  


In the end, it really all boils down to one person, but Jihoon had already known that from the start, hadn’t he?

  
  
  
  


\- ✿ -

  
  
  
  


The basement study looks the same as it had the previous time that Jihoon was here. Everything is neatly arranged in its right place and the books on the shelf are sitting in the same arrangement that Jihoon remembers leaving them. In the corner, positioned with his long limbs folded into himself, sits Lai Kuanlin staring at the laptop in front of him in deep concentration.

Jihoon calls out softly “Hey, did you miss me?” 

At the greeting, Kuanlin raises his head over the edge of the screen and Jihoon can see his eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Setting down his computer, the tall boy straightens himself to his full height and pads over towards the doorway, leaving sparkling gossamer trails floating behind him in his wake.

“Jihoon! You’re back!” states Kuanlin, peering at Jihoon’s hat curiously. “Did you succeed?”

Beaming up at the other boy, Jihoon smiles and wordlessly removes his hat; his brown locks and colourful flowers spilling out of their confines.

“Oh no, was the information I gave you wrong?” asks Kuanlin, a sad frown encompassing his face.

Without uttering an explanation, Jihoon reaches up to where he knows a beautiful red rose sits elegantly in the centre of his head and plucks it. Holding back a wince, he holds it out in front of him in deference.

“I’ve been thinking about this ever since I left.” begins Jihoon, voice steady but the trembling of the flower in his hand belies his nervousness. 

“Over the week we spent together, I’ve grown to like you a lot Kuanlin.” continues the older boy, keeping his eyes glued to the floor. “There’s no one else I want to give this flower to, so please, would you accept my confession?”

His question is met with silence and Jihoon closes his eyes tightly. He can still feel his hand shaking from around the rose’s stem clenched firmly in his fist.

Kuanlin doesn’t reply but Jihoon feels a thin hand coming to rest upon his, its long fingers wrapping around his own short ones. 

Opening his eyes, Jihoon sees the boy before him glowing brightly, iridescent traces of magic dripping from his being and gently falling upon the flower and Jihoon’s hand like raindrops of light from the sky.

“I do.” says Kuanlin finally in a soft voice, as though he is sharing a secret privately with Jihoon even though there is no one else around. He grins and adds on “And, I like you too."

Jihoon feels light with elation. 

_His confession was accepted!_

He feels high, drunk on love, like he wants to both burst out in laughter and break down in tears of relief. 

Jihoon is about to tell Kuanlin how happy he is when the younger boy smiles and shouts out “Jihoon! Your flowers! They’ve all disappeared!"

Surprised, the older boy lifts his free hand to pat at his head and finds that all of the flowers that had taken up residence in his hair, that he’d grown so used to over the weeks that they had become a part of him, have all vanished as though they had never been there. 

Every last one safe for the lone rose held between his fingers.

“That’s great, Jihoon! Aren’t you happy?” laughs Kuanlin, running his fingers through Jihoon’s hair, combing out the knots easily.

Jihoon smiles and nods.

“I am.” 

  
  
  
  


\- ✿ -

  
  
  
  


_“Hey Grandma? I have something to tell you. Something good.”_

  


_“You made a friend, Kuanlin? That’s wonderful. What are they like?”_

  


_“He’s special. Like a single red rose in a garden full of thorns."_

  
  
  
  


\- ✿ -

**Author's Note:**

> i forgot how much i liked writing panwink. THEY'RE SO SOFT UWU
> 
> also it’s up to you to decide if kuanlin was actually glowing when he first met jihoon or if jihoon was just blindsided by love haha. i like to think that it was a little bit of both~
> 
> thanks for reading! ♡


End file.
